Nearly 70% Of State Workers Vaccinated As October Deadline Nears

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington officials released a detailed breakdown of COVID-19 vaccination percentages by department this week, with just under three weeks to go before Gov. Jay Inslee's Oct. 18 deadline for state employees to become fully vaccinated or face termination. To allow enough time to reach full vaccination status by the date, workers must receive their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson by Monday, Oct. 4.

The governor's order allows for narrow exemptions from the mandate, including for legitimate medical reasons or "sincerely held religious beliefs." The report assembled by the Office of Financial Management showed 797 such exemptions were granted as of Monday, with the majority approved for religious reasons.

Nearly 63,000 state employees are subject to the vaccination requirements, and the OFM found 68.1 percent were fully vaccinated by Sept. 20, up from 49.1 percent on Sept. 6. Immunization rates vary widely among the state's many branches, and even further between facilities, ranging from under 30 percent among staffers at two juvenile detention centers to above 98 percent within the governor's office.

Some of the larger agencies with rates lagging behind the average include the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (50.21%), the Department of Agriculture (52.53%), the State Parks and Recreation Commission (61.66%) and Washington State Patrol (62.64%).

Here are a few of the larger state agencies with the highest immunization rates (as of Sept. 20):

• Office of the Governor: 98.33%
• Department of Financial Institutions: 94.12%
• Department of Health: 84.59%
• Department of Ecology: 83.99%
• Office of Financial Management: 82.39%
• Department of Fish and Wildlife: 81.7%
• Department of Licensing: 81.22%

Under an agreement reached earlier this month with the Washington Federation of State Employees, workers whose exemption requests are denied can use up to 45 days of leave to become fully vaccinated in lieu of termination. Those who began the process late may also take leave to complete their immunization series but must do so by Nov. 17.